One night stand
by tj67701
Summary: What started out as one night stand grows into a lot more for Daryl as he runs into Riley after their hookup, only to find out she has some additional baggage. First chapter is smut, following chapters are a story
1. Riley

Daryl was investigating a bar in town for personal reasons. He was back behind the bar, and found some _Southern_ _Comfort_.

It was nice to get out on his own for a bit. They were currently held up in a house on the outskirts of town. A nice house, with a fenced in year, two stories plus an attic. But it wasn't permanent, nothing was.

He froze at the sound of a door creek. He slowly set the bottle down and brought his crossbow to his chest, getting ready for position. When the door to the back room opened, he went into stance and held his bow pointed to the door. At the same time, women walked through the door and drew her glock from its holster, pointing at him. For a moment, they stared at each other. After a moment, she lowered her glock. "I thought you were a dead asshole." He didn't lower his weapon at first, watched as she walked around the bar. She grabbed a bottle of vodka, then glanced at him She had full lips, dark, long hair, and round blue eyes. "I'm not gonna' hurt you, you can put that down." He reluctantly did. Admittedly, a girl was standing in front of him with tight, short shorts and a low cut top. Daryl was a little distracted.

She bent down, seductively at that, to pick up another bottle. Slowly she stood back up. "I'm Riley."

"Good to know." He muttered, walking around her and grabbing his _Southern Comfort. _She slipped it from his hands and took a swig out of it. She smirked at him. The girl had balls, he could tell from her smirk was she was trying to get a reaction out of him. He narrowed his eyes at her. Her smirk grew, her eyes got mischievous as she took another swig. She set the bottle down, and then walked past him, brushing against him a little.

"I didn't need to know your name anyway." She added, grabbing some of the silverware and setting it in her bag.

"Wasn't gonna' give it to ya'." He said.

"You alone?" she asked. He didn't respond. She glanced back at him over her shoulder, then looked away. "I have a group. So don't worry about me."

"Thank God, I was just about to think about rescuin' ya." He scoffed at her. She was completely unfazed, and that just irritated him. But then again, he liked staring at her long legs. She was driving him crazy, in more than one way.

"There is a general store up the road. We probably picked through that of course." She went on. "But you look like you're fed, so I don't feel too bad."

"Are you gonna' get to the point?" he asked.

She walked to the other side of the bar, right across from him. She leaned over and looked up in his eyes. "I guess I'm just lonely. I like talking."

"Not my problem." He said gruffly. His pants were getting tight, pretty soon he wouldn't be able to think.

"You couldn't handle it anyway." The meanings were all meant to be read between the lines. It had been a long time for Daryl, and if there was a chance of a possibility, he'd jump on it. It wasn't his priority, but life was handing it to him right now.

Daryl walked around the bar, she didn't move. He came up behind her. "You talk a lot."

She looked over her shoulder, looking him in the eye. She was grinning. "What are you gonna' do about it?"

He grabbed her hips and leaned into her. She moaned and his free hand grabbed her hair and tilted her head back, sucking on her neck. She was moaning, Daryl was going to take that as a go. He turned her around and they were going at it. He rubbed himself against her, her nails went in his back. He groaned and she pulled his shirt off. Her's didn't last long either. He lifted her up on the bar and set her down. He unbottend her pants and she lifted herself up with her hands while he pulled her shorts, and panties down her legs. She sat on the bar completely naked and looked confident. He massaged her breats and kissed down her sternum, down her stomach, and to her wetness. She threw her head back and moaned as Daryl went down on her. She grabbed his hair and pulled him back up, unbuttoning his pants. He discarded the last bit of clothing and guided himself to her.

He only pumped slow a few times. Her legs around his waist guided him to go faster and harder and he did that. She got loud, and so did he. He couldn't hold it in, everything about her was too hot. And he got to do whatever he wanted to her.

He pulled her off the bar and turned her around. She bent over the bar and he started again, grabbing her shoulders and thrusting deep and hard. When she got louder and louder, he felt himself reach his own climax at the same time. He shuttered, swearing. When he finished he laid face down against her back, breathing heavily.

When she caught her breath, he pulled out and she stood up. He turned her around and kissed her neck, leaning into her. She moaned softly. "I have to get going." She breathed out.

"Dine and dash, huh?" he kept being offended out of his voice. It was just sex, he couldn't take it personally. Especially in these days.

She laughed. "I was supposed to be back before dark." She nodded to the window. It was pitch black out.

"I can take you back." He offered. He figured she'd be scared to go alone, and it wouldn't be a good idea anyway.

"I think I can handle it." He gathered up all her clothes and handed them to her. They both got dressed and she pulled her backpack on. "For the record, that was the best sex I've ever head. I hope I run into you again."

He smirked at her, and started to head out. Before he did, he added, "I'm Daryl, by the way."

* * *

Riley made it back to the town home in once piece. "Where the hell have you been?" her friend, Monica, asked. She was on watch. Riley just smiled, walking past her. "Hello?" she caught Riley by the arm. "Oh my God, were you bit?" she asked, looking at he neck.

Riley laughed. "Yes, actually." It sunk into her friend, who playfully pushed her.

"Shut the fuck up. Who? Is that why you were late?"

"I ran into someone in town." Riley said. "Honestly, I've been itching for it for years. And he was built like a God, I couldn't not try." Riley and never been so forthcoming, but it _had _been years.

"My God." Monica rolled her eyes. Riley signed off and walked to the room she was staying in. She tried to be quiet as possible, but she heard, "Hello?"

"Hey." She said, walking over to the bed. "Hey baby."

A little girl rubbed her eyes. "Where were you?"

"I had to run to town." She said, stroking her hair. She nodded to the other person in the room. The nodded back and left the two alone.

Her bottom lip jutted out. "Mom." Riley picked her up, rocking her slightly.

"I'm sorry baby, I'm here now."


	2. Stay

"Haley, put that down!" Riley stopped her conversation mid-sentence to yell out. It had been months since her run in with the man in the bar, and every once in a while she would look back and smile, because it was a damn good time. Unfortunately she never ran into him again. Since then, the town homes they were staying in had got overrun, all that was left was Riley, Monica, and Haley.

The little girl dropped the worms she was picking up.

Monica laughed. "She's just curious."

Riley looked at her daughter, a familiar pit in her stomach growing. "All of this instability is awful for her. We go from place to place, not having a home isn't doing any good."

"What are our other options?" Monica asked. "We can't risk one place for too long."

"Come here baby." The three year old automatically wondered over to her mother. Riley took the girls long, wavy dark hair and pinned it up in a braid. She hadn't had the heart to cut it yet. "We should get moving." Monica nodded and they got into their car they had found months ago.

"I haven't any other surviviors in months." Monica commented.

"It's not a good sign." Riley said back staring out the window.

"It's not a bad one either." Monica said.

Riley laughed. "That doesn't make sense."

"Mom, I'm hungry." The little girl said from the back seat.

"We need to pull over." Riley said, looking around. "Right there, that gas station." She knew Monica hated pulling over for anything, when it came to Haley there was no choice.

Monica pulled into the station. "I'll go see what I can find, ya'll wait out here." Monica went in and Riley brought Haley out of the car to get some air. She let the girl play, becoming mesmerized by a dandelion. Riley chuckled at her. She looked to the gas station and here eyes widened in horror as a few walkers came out of the car wash area. She scooped up Haley and before she knew what was happening the door opened to the gas station and Monica came out, staring at her looking confused.

Riley tried to scream, or yell, or tell her to _run_. But nothing came out and she was frozen. Next thing she knew a walker took her friend and bit into her. Riley was screaming, she was trapped. They were too close to the car, they didn't have time.

She hear a loud car horn, a family van was barreling toward the gas station, flipping into the parking lot. Gun shots went off. "Get in!" a voice screamed inside the van, leaning out the window and picking walkers off. Right now, it was them or the zombies and she chose them.

* * *

Riley wouldn't let go of Haley. She held the little girl tight and cried into her hair. Unusually, the little girl didn't struggle to get away. Riley couldn't breathe she was hyperventilating, having a full blown panic attack.

A person in the passenger seat crawled into the back. "Are you alright?" she asked. Her voice was sweet and southern.

"Oh God." Riley breathed out. "My friend… Is she?" Riley looked to the girl. She was pretty, with short brown hair and brown eyes. The one driving was an Asian man. He glanced at his frined in the rear view mirror.

"She's gone." The girl said.

Riley begun to pull herself together; she could mourn when Haley slept tonight. For now, she needed to be strong momma. She kissed the little girls cheek and tucked her hair behind her ears. "I'm Maggie, this is Glen." The girl went on.

"I'm Riley." She said, rocking her daughter back and forth. "This is my girl, Haley." Maggie smiled down at her, brightly. Haley stared at her blankly.

"Where is your group held up? We can bring you to them?" she offered.

"They're gone." Riley said. "It's just us two left."

* * *

Maggie and Glen brought them back to a large, fenced in house. The gates were opened and closed behind them. As Maggie got out, she called, "We ran into a problem." Riley got out, holding Haley, to find a large amount of people in the yard, staring at her. Maggie was speaking low to a women with long dark hair and a man standing next to her. The women stared at her while Maggie talked.

The man looked at her. "You alright?"

Riley was shaking, nodding a little bit. She didn't know what to say, she didn't know where she was or who these people are. Adrenaline was pumping through her and it was paralyzing her.

Just like when she froze at the gas station.

He took a couple of steps toward her, by the looks of it no one knew what to do with the new arrivals. Haley looked at him, her eyes wide and confused. "My daughter…" she started to say. "We were just attacked."

"Hershel can look at her." He said. "I'm Rick."

"Riley. This is Haley."

He pointed toward the women with dark hair, who was also very pregnant. "That's my wife, Lori, our son, Carl." He gestured to a little boy next to her. "Over there is T-Dog, Carol, Beth, and Daryl." She followed the line of people and froze on the last one. She hadn't noticed him, but he definitely noticed her. He stared at her like he was seeing a ghost.

Of all the fucking odds.

* * *

"She's fine." The older man said as he finished looking Haley over. "For now, I think it best to let her sleep." In the room with them was Maggie and Rick. Rick stared at her daughter looking torn.

She nodded. "Thank you, Hershel."

"If you don't mind, I like to get a word with you." Rick said.

"But…" she trailed off, she wouldn't leave Riley unattended.

"I'll stay in here with her." Maggie said. "I won't let nothin' happen."

Riley nodded and Rick led her downstairs into a nicely decorated living room. Down there was Lori and Glen, and of course Daryl. He was chewing on his thumb, staring at her. "Glen said you your group was dead."

It was strange, because every other survivors she would come across always had a 'group', or asked her about her 'group'. The end of the world really did change how things work. "We were staying in some town homes, and got overrun. For a few months it was us and Monica, but she's gone now too."

"Here honey, sit down." Lori said, gesturing to the spot next to her. Riley took it, sighing deeply.

"What's your plan now?" Rick asked.

Riley took the tone; she wasn't welcome. "Didn't come up with one, my _plan_ fell through an hour ago so I haven't actually had time to figure it out yet." She was being combative, and she didn't care.

"Rick." Glen said. Rick looked to him and the Asian man seemed to be searching for the words but nothing came out.

"We have set rules." He said, looking to Riley. "I'm sorry."

"She has a child." Lori said. "Rick, we never accounted for something like this. We can't just let them go and figure it out."

Rick's face was stone. Riley needed something, people, for help. She couldn't afford to not trust in people, she needed people to keep her daughter safe, she couldn't do it alone. But she couldn't handle Rick staring at her, whatever answer he was looking for she couldn't give it to him.

"I need to go to my daughter." She said, standing up and going up the steps.

"Wait." She turned around and shockingly; it was the man she met in the bar. She looked around to see if they were alone.

"I don't remember you." Was the first thing to come to mind.

"Obviously." He said, his lip curling slightly as he looked at her through narrowed eyes. "You have a daughter?"

"What does that matter?" she asked sharply; she had things going on and he wanted to do this now. "We didn't exchange information exactly."

"Well excuse me, but I just assumed ya'd died." He said, articulating the syllables. "And you showed up out of nowhere, sorry if I'm a little mind fucked right now."

"My daughter is in the other room after having the lights scared out of her after running into walkers, I'm not sure what I'm going to do now and you think this is the best time?" without another word Riley went up the steps and into the room. Maggie excused herself and Riley sat in a chair next to the bed, stroking Haleys hair. She was sleeping. Thinking about what her little girl had to go through and see today was breaking her heart straight into two.

She jumped at the sound of someone walking in. "Hey." She stared up at Rick, he had seen her jump. "I'm sorry, we are just… I tried to have guidelines when it comes to accepting people."

"As in you don't accept them." She said.

"Daryl, he talked to me a bit." It took her moment to remember that Daryl was the name of then man she met in the bar. "I trust him, and he said we couldn't turn you away. You've been through enough." It was silent for a beat. "Everyone here contributes."

"I will." She answered. "Thanks."

He nodded slightly, sending one last glance at Haley before leaving the room. Riley curled up in the chair and began to cry.


	3. Stress Reliever

Riley had been with the group for a couple of weeks now. Haley's nightmares had subsided, and she was bringing a smile to everyone she came across. Riley would help with the scavenging, or whatever else she needed, only if Maggie wasn't going on a run; She only trusted Maggie with her child.

She got along with everyone so far, everyone except Daryl; he hadn't said a word to her since the day she arrived. She hadn't minded, she'd rather not talk to him at all.

Riley was living in constant fear; she couldn't sleep, she just cried.

"Mom!" Riley whipped around and shot her daughter the look; they were outside playing and she couldn't be as loud as she wanted to be. Riley didn't want to attract walker attention. "Mom." The little girl said quietly, she wanted Riley to watch as she threw the ball to Glen. He clapped for her and her perfect throw, rolling it back to her. Maggie was smiling at him.

Riley learned that the two were an item, Lori and Rick were 'married' but wouldn't even look at each other and Riley knew something had happened, but Maggie, her source of information, had no idea. Carol was an older woman who lost her little girl, and according to Maggie she was timid before, which Riley couldn't see. The woman was a spit fire now. Riley had been trying to teach her to shoot, which is hard with ammo conserving. Riley was trying to find a bee bee or paintball gun in the meantime.

She heard the gate open and looked toward the high walls of the mansion; Daryl and Rick were back. The parked the car and got out. "Daryl!" Haley said, pointing at the man. He wrinkled his nose. For some reason, maybe because he made it a point to ignore human interaction, Haley was constantly trying to get his attention. According to Maggie, he had come around as a person but for some reason was pulling back since they got there. Riley could guess why.

Haley ran over to him and tugged at his bag where he kept the supplies they picked up. "Juice?"

Without a word he went into his bag and pulled out a gallon of apple juice, every single time he'd get something for her to drink, and snacks. Riley wondered how long it would be before they couldn't find stuff for her. Still, it amazed her that he'd always bring stuff back for her girl, every single time yet not say a word to Riley.

He sat it down in front of her and she attempted to pick it up. "Haley, what do you say?"

"Thank you Daryl." She drawled out his name slightly, and he smiled just a bit. But then it dropped from his face as he made eye contact with Riley. Haley made a noise of displeasure, _ugh_, as she tried to drag the juice over. She dropped it and ran over to where she dropped her sippy cup, then ran over to Daryl and pressed it against his leg. "Juice, _please_."

Wordlessly he got down on one knee, and began to unscrew the top to her cup. "Any problems?" Glen asked to Rick.

The man shook his head. "Surprisingly it was an easy run. We got some pasta and sauce." Riley could hardly contain her excitement, she was living off tuna packets for a long time. "Get a fire going and boil some water." He said toward Carol. She nodded and started to collect wood.

Riley looked to see her pointing at Daryl's bow; she had overheard him once telling her daughter to not touch it, and it was 'owie'.(_Haley frowned. "Owie?" "Yeah, owie. Don't touch it."_) "I shot a bear once." The small girl said to him; she got the idea that Daryl caught animals for them to eat.

"No ya' didn't." Daryl said gruffly, not looking at her while he poured her apple juice.

"Yes I did."

"No ya' didn't. Liar."

"No, _you're_ a liar."

"She is a sassy little girl." Maggie commented behind her. She turned to look.

"No idea where she got that from." Riley joked lightly.

"I think she got her wit from her mama." The brunette grinned.

"Daryl." Haley called. He didn't respond. "_Daryl. I' talkin' to you._"

"Damn, _what?_" he asked.

"Pick me up." She demanded.

"No, ya' can walk."

* * *

That night, they sat outside around the fire. They were conserving the pasta, but it was delicious. Haley scooped it in her tiny hands and ate from her palms. Her face had pasta and sauce all over and she would grin brightly. Everyone laughed at her but she was staring at Daryl, trying to get his attention. He was trying his best not to smile or laugh. Riley chuckled. "Eat your food with your fork." Haley tried to maneuver the fork, but it was too big for her. Riley eventually gave up and let her eat with her hands.

Haley eventually started to rub her eyes and lay her head against Rileys leg. Riley excused herself and brought her daughter in the house, to their room.

* * *

Daryl was sick of it.

Dinner was over and Daryl was lying in bed, he couldn't sleep. His next room neighbor, Riley, was up once again and every so often he could hear a small cry. Every single night.

He sat up in his bed, and sighed. He was ignoring that the girl existed, and her dumb daughter made it hard by following him around trying to get his attention constantly. After Sophia, he didn't feel like getting invested in another little kid was good. He couldn't take it if something happened to the little toddler. But it was too late, no matter how much he ignored her he knew he wouldn't let anything happen to the small girl, who looked like her mother in every way. They had the same look in their eyes when they were thinking. It was a moment where their face would go blank, big round eyes relaxed and full lips closed. You couldn't tell that they were thinking, you just knew they were thinking _something._

And Daryl was finding it hard to not think about that night so long ago when he first met Riley. And how she acted like it never happened. At the same time, what should he have expected? There was no protocol in these situations, especially in an apocalypse.

He pulled himself off of his bed and grabbed his bag, walking out of his room.

* * *

Riley was sitting on the couch in her room, crying again. She grabbed her gun when someone opened her door, Daryl looked amused.

She didn't bother to cover up her crying; it was just weird that he was willingly in her room. He walked in and sat next to her on the couch. She stared at him as he didn't speak, just opened his bag and started pulling things out.

A puzzle set, some dolls, children's eating utensils, stuff like that. "I picked up some things." That was the first thing he said to her in a month. Riley turned away and stared at her daughter, tears forming her eyes again. "I hear ya' every night."

She shook her head. "I don't know what I'm doing."

"You seem to got it so far." He said. She couldn't figure it out; why was he in her room? Talking to her, trying to cheer her up.

"I don't know how to protect my daughter. If I had known all of this would happen four years ago… I wouldn't have gone through the pregnancy." Her voice was quiet as she confessed. "I never wanted any of this for her. I wanted that old life for her, not this."

It was silent for a beat. "I remembered when this first started. The things I saw people do to their kids… Things I thought people were incapable of. Instead of protecting their kids, they'd leave 'em behind. There was this one time, Merle and I saw this couple run, their little boy couldn't keep up and they knew it. They just let him get taken." He was staring at Haley. "I made my brother pull over, got rid of the geeks but one of them got a bite out of him. It was a small bite, but a bites a bite. I held him a bit, calmed him down, even got him to smile." Daryl stopped talking for a full minute. She didn't think he'd go on. "I couldn't put him down." He said all of the sudden. "Merle did, before the kid could feel the infection." He turned and looked at Charlotte. "Yer little girl is the first I've seen in months. I think ya' are doin' better than most folks out there."

"You haven't said a word to me since I got here." She said.

Daryl shrugged. "Din't have much to say to ya'."

"I want to get along with you." She admitted. "I mean you have Haley won over somehow."

He snorted a little bit. "Don't know how."

"Must be your charming smile." Riley joked. Daryl almost cracked a smile, but held it back. Riley didn't care; he was talking to her, this was progress.

"Ya' should get more sleep. It's gonna' catch up with ya' if ya' don't." Riley nodded as he stood up and walked out. She crawled in next to Haley and fell right asleep.

* * *

The next morning, Haley woke Riley up and the woman gave crackers to her for dinner, she brought her downstairs where the group stood in the kitchen. "Good morning." Rick said.

She sat Haley down. "Sorry, my alarm clock slept in today." She smiled a little as Haley totted over to Maggie.

Riley shivered a little bit and took her sweatshirt off to wrap it around haley. "It's freezing." She commented.

"We were just talkin' about that." Rick said. "It's starting to get frost outside, we need a run into town to get some blankets, jackets, and such."

"It's been a while since I went out, I can go." Riley said. "If Maggie doesn't mind watching Haley." She ignored the hurt look on Lori's face. She understood though, Lori had a child and Maggie hasn't. But if Lori had to make a choice, she would save Carl over Haley. If the responsibility was up to Maggie, she knew her daughter would be safe.

"Of course." Maggie said.

"I was hopping you'd offer. Next to Glen, you are a good in and out."

"I'll go with her." Daryl spoke up. Riley cast a glance at him because now it was getting weird. First he's talking to her out of nowhere, and no he was going on runs with her.

Rick nodded. "Sound's good."

* * *

They drove to a sporting good store. Darryl mentioned that there was always too many geeks in the parking lot, but there was only a few this time. Riley got out of the car quietly and hid behind it. "I'll take out that one, you put a bow through that one. I can get the third one but I need you to take out the one over there if it comes near me." She whispered to Daryl He nodded and he sprinted over to an unsuspecting walker and shoved her knife through his head. A walker about ten feet away dropped with an arrow through his head. But that got the other two's attention and they started to come at her. "Some _help!_" she called, looking back at him as he was reloading his bow.

"Working on it." He said.

She rolled her eyes and picked up a near by baseball bat. It went into the closest ones head, the other dropping thanks to Daryl finally helping. He ran ahead of her and led her in. "I thought this place was over run." She whispered.

"So did I." he said. He examined the small store. "All the weapons were raided." He said. "Someone must have come an' took the geeks out."

"They still have some winter gear." She said. "Guess they weren't thinking ahead."

She started to examine jackets. "Do you think Carol would like the pink or purple?" she asked, holding up a fleece jacket.

Daryl snorted. "I think she'll like to be warm." Riley rolled her eyes and went with the purple.

She started to pick out some more jackets, then looking at some nice shoes for Carl when Daryl walked over. He set down a nice little pink jacket with a fur hood, kids boots, kid snowpants, gloves, and a hat. All of it was pink. She smiled at him. "Little small for me."

He rolled his eyes. "Fer' Haley. Some o' it might be a size too big, but she's growin' anyway."

Riley faced him. "Since when did you decide to start talking to me anyway?"

He shrugged. "Beats me." And he left it at that. Irritated, Riley turned away and began to pick out shoes. Carl's were getting too tight. She started to stuff things in a duffel bag.

"We got geeks behind the building." Daryl said. "We gotta' go." She nodded and picked up the duffel bag, running out of the building.

* * *

They were driving. She was staring at his arms as he had one had in the steering wheel. Even though he was confusing, he was still pretty sexy. Riley got an idea; they did it once, they could do it again.

And Riley wasn't subtle. "I haven't had sex in months." If he was eating, she was sure he would have chocked on it.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah, and it's a good stress reliever." She added. "And I have a lot of stress. And, I think you have a lot of stress."

"God damn women." He said, but he was pulling over. He put it in park and looked at her. "Well?"

She smirked, crawling into the backseat. He followed after her.


End file.
